It’s the 5th Day of 2022’s December. I write this post everyday to remind myself of my good fortune to be who I am and where I am. If I don’t stop and think about it, and write about it, I won’t have as much positive energy to combat the inherent negativity that surrounds us. There are plenty of people who want to tell us about a present or past outrage and want us to be as pissed-off as they are. I don’t intend to participate today. I’m going to have a good day instead because it is Bathtub Party Day, Day of the Ninja, International Volunteer Day, National Blue Jeans Day, National Sacher Torte Day, World Soil Day, and Repeal Day. Now some history: In 63 BC Cicero read the last of his Catiline Orations to the Roman Senate. There were 4 speeches given by Cicero which are preserved and available to anyone interested in the politics of ancient Rome. In 1349 on this day 500 Jews of Nuremberg were massacred during the Black Death riots. On this day in 1456 an earthquake struck Naples killing around 35,000. On this day in 1848 President James K. Polk triggered the Gold Rush of 1849 by confirming that gold had been discovered in California. This is the day in 1908 that the 1st football uniforms with numbers were used (University of Pittsburgh). On this day in 1933 Prohibition ended in the US with the ratification of the 21st Amendment. On this day in 1945 five torpedo bombers (the Lost Squadron) flew into the Bermuda Triangle and were never seen again. In 1955 on this day the bus boycott in Montgomery, AL began. Today’s first dead person is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who said, “To talk well and eloquently is a very great art, but that an equally great one is to know the right moment to stop.” Next is the painter, Claude Monet who said, “It is a tragedy that we live in a world where physical courage is so common, and moral courage is so rare.” I’ll end with the French writer Alexandre Dumas who said, “All for one and one for all, united we stand, divided we fall,” and “One’s work may be finished someday, but one’s education, never.” I know that last one is true. Abide.
